The SEC didn’t keep Razorback fans waiting too long.
On Wednesday night, the league held its “Inside the 2026 Football Schedule” presentation and revealed kickoff time windows for all 16 member schools, including a full look at what Arkansas fans can expect when Ryan Silverfield’s debut season kicks off this fall.
Fans already knew the times for the first three games, but Wednesday’s announcement filled in the picture with window designations for the rest of the schedule and locked in the Week 4 kickoff time against Tulsa.
The Razorbacks open on Sept. 5 against North Alabama at 3:15 p.m. on the SEC Network. It’s the first-ever meeting between the two programs, and it gives Silverfield a manageable early test before things get complicated in a hurry.
The following week, Arkansas heads to Salt Lake City to face Utah on Sept. 12 at 9:15 p.m. on ESPN. It’ll be the first time these programs have ever met on the football field.
It’s also the third time in five years the Hogs will travel to face a Big 12 opponent on the road, following trips to BYU in 2022 and Oklahoma State in 2024.
A week later, Georgia comes to Fayetteville for an 11 a.m. kickoff on Sept. 19, carried nationally on ABC.
It’s the first time the two programs have shared the field since 2020, when the Bulldogs won 37-10 in the season opener. Arkansas will want a different result this time around.
The Sept. 26 home game against Tulsa is set for 7 p.m. on SEC Network+, making it the only game on the schedule to carry that particular network designation.
Five straight games assigned flex windows
Five of the next six games on the schedule — along with the Military Appreciation home matchup against South Carolina — carry a “FLEX” window designation, meaning exact times won’t be confirmed until six to 12 days before kickoff.
That window runs from 2:30 to 7 p.m..
That stretch starts Oct. 3 at Texas A&M and includes home games against Tennessee on Oct. 10 and Missouri on Oct. 31, as well as a road trip to Vanderbilt on Oct. 17. The bye week falls on Oct. 24.
The Missouri game on Halloween carries some extra context this year. It’s the Battle Line Rivalry, and for the first time since Missouri joined the SEC, the game won’t be played as the regular-season finale.
Moving it to Week 9 is a notable scheduling shift for a rivalry that had become synonymous with late-November college football.
After hosting South Carolina on Nov. 14 — also in the flex window — the Hogs travel to Austin for the second straight year to face Texas on Nov. 21. That game falls in the “AFTERNOON” window, slotted between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m..
The regular season closes at home Nov. 28 against LSU. The Battle of the Golden Boot returns to its traditional place as the final regular-season game and sits in the “EARLY” window, which runs from 11 a.m. to noon. The Nov. 7 road game at Auburn carries that same early designation.
Razorback fans now have enough information to start circling dates on the calendar, even if exact times for several key SEC matchups are still a few months away from being confirmed.
